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Your Complete Criminal Justice ResourceTue, 14 Aug 2018 16:44:19 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Nebraska Executes Carey Dean Moore, First State Execution Since 1997https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/nebraskas-execution-of-murderer-first-in-state-since-1997/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/nebraskas-execution-of-murderer-first-in-state-since-1997/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 16:20:04 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343660Nebraska executed Carey Dean Moore on Tuesday. It was the state’s first execution since 1997 and the first by lethal injection, reports the Omaha World-Herald. The execution went forward after a federal appeals court denied a drug company’s request to halt the lethal injection over concerns about whether the drugs were obtained improperly by the state, NPR reports.

Moore’s execution was scheduled to be the first time the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl was used in a U.S. lethal injection. Moore, who has been in prison since 1980 after he was convicted of two first degree murders, has not challenged the execution protocol. He’s had seven other execution dates before this one.

The primary legal challenge was from German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi, which makes potassium chloride and cisatracurium besylate, two of the four drugs in the protocol. An increasing number of pharmaceutical companies have taken legal action against states using their products in executions, which has made it difficult for states to obtain the drugs.

The state has not disclosed its supplier. Fresenius Kabi said it has “grounds to believe” that Nebraska is using their drugs. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said the company’s claim that the drug’s use would cause it “irreparable injury” was “far too speculative.”

Nebraska said it contacted at least forty potential suppliers and six other states to find the drugs used in the execution.

An unidentified supplier was the only one willing to sell Nebraska the drugs. One of the substances expires on Aug. 31. Nebraska had argued that any delay could render it unable to carry out executions indefinitely.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/nebraskas-execution-of-murderer-first-in-state-since-1997/feed/0To Deter Violence, Let’s Treat Alt-Right Groups as Street Gangshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/to-deter-violence-why-not-consider-alt-right-groups-as-street-gangs/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/to-deter-violence-why-not-consider-alt-right-groups-as-street-gangs/#commentsTue, 14 Aug 2018 14:58:38 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343137Often, it has seemed that every public demonstration organized by Alt-Right groups is simply a ruse for violence and intimidation. Fortunately, violence by Alt-Right groups was averted at the Unite the Right 2 rallies in Washington, DC and Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.

But earlier this month, violence erupted in Portland, Or., when Alt-Right groups clashed with counter-protesters. It was the second such clash in a little over a month.

But if we want to prevent further outbreaks of violence, there are some important steps that can be implemented before the protesters take to the streets.

In both Charlottesville and Portland, traditional crowd control techniques by law enforcement proved insufficient to combat these Alt-Right groups. While this past weekend’s mobilization and deployment of hundreds of law enforcement officers in Washington and Charlottesville may have helped inhibit violence, this approach is not practical or sustainable for every public gathering of the Alt-Right.

Law enforcement should consider alternative approaches to curb the violence that accompanies them. As criminologists who study street and prison gangs, we argue that Alt-Right groups are no different than conventional street gangs, and should be treated as such.

Shannon Reid

Approaching these groups as gangs would expand law enforcement’s toolbox to more effective tactics. Decades of gang research have highlighted strategies to combat violence. For instance, gang databases already employed by law enforcement agencies, should be used to identify, collect and share intelligence about Alt-Right members who are routinely engaging in violence.

It would then be feasible to use civil gang injunctions to limit the association and congregation of these individuals. Another successful approach has been focused deterrence/group violence intervention, which concentrates on communicating to chronic offenders, most at risk to sanctions, that violence will not be tolerated while providing these individuals opportunities and resources for desistance.

Such a strategy could easily be deployed for Alt-Right groups.

What is a Gang?

Defining what constitutes a “gang” remains a highly debated topic amongst and between academics, policymakers and law enforcement. Even though there is not a single definition between all parties, many elements remain present.

For instance, according to the Washington, DC criminal code, a “criminal street gang” is as “an association or group of six or more persons” that participates in either a felony (e.g., aggravated assault, murder) or a violent misdemeanor (e.g., simple assault, property destruction, threats of bodily harm).

The code also deems it “unlawful for a person to solicit, invite, recruit, encourage, or otherwise cause, or attempt to cause, another individual to become a member of, remain in, or actively participate in” a gang.

Based upon Washington, DC’s criminal code, a very narrow definition of a gang, any of the individuals participating with Alt-Right groups in felony or violent misdemeanor activity, as observed in Portland or Charlottesville, should be treated as a member of an “Alt-Right Gang”.

Are Alt-Right Groups Comparable to Street Gangs?

In broader terms, gangs are groups of individuals sharing a collective identity, differentiating members that are part of the group from excluded outsiders. A common set of descriptors include particular signs/ symbols, that are either materially displayed or tattooed, colors and clothing styles, although these are not necessary elements for a group.

The typical example is a Blood or Crip gang member wearing a particular color, sports team insignia, or clothing brand. The Proud Boys, an Alt-Right group present at both Charlottesville and Portland, routinely wear their own unique uniform identifying group members— a black Fred Perry polo shirt with yellow piping. Given the historic connections of the clothes being adopted as part of racist skinheads’ uniform, it is probably no coincidence that Fred Perry shirts were selected. (The brand does not endorse these groups.)

In addition to the Proud Boys initiation process, their propensity for and support of violence against non-members clearly indicates the use of criminal acts as a tool to further solidify the groups’ Alt-Right identity.

Another characteristic that street gangs and Alt-Right groups hold in common is durability. As witnessed over the last couple years, the activity of Alt-Right groups is not short-lived. Many of these groups have been able to maintain their presence and grow through social media and online imageboards (e.g., 4chan).

A principal characteristic of a street gang is its orientation towards gathering in public space. While much of the Alt-Right developed online, their actions have spewed forth into the physical world. Furthermore, the public presence of Alt-Right groups is not diminishing and remains highly active at public demonstrations and on college campuses.

Does Ideology Matter?

People may argue that Alt-Right groups differ from gangs because their ideological underpinnings are what actually bind these groups together. The vast majority of members of Alt-Right groups remain tied together more by what they oppose: multiculturalism, feminism, political correctness, globalism, establishment politics (i.e., the Federal Government), and immigration, rather than a rigorous and complex ideology.

In fact, the ideologies referenced by members are often varied, and sometimes contradictory. In essence, ideology should be used as a descriptor instead of an identifier. Most criminal codes do not reference ideology in ascertaining if members are part of gang.

Matt Valasik

Street gangs are not a minority-based problem, yet clear bias exists towards considering people of color as gang members compared to their white counterparts. An example of this lack of local police attention towards Alt-Right gangs is clearly observed in Portland.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Gang Database lists 359 gang members, yet, only 32 individuals were listed as being a member of one of seven White Power groups. That is, less than 9 percent of all known gang members. Yet, Portland is not lacking in violent white supremacy groups. If police agencies categorize crimes involving Alt-Right groups as being part of a racist or hateful subculture treating each incident of violence as an isolated event, rather than a gang-related incident, then law enforcement will never know if these Alt-Righters are habitual offenders and will be limited in their intervention capabilities.

Adapting an old adage, if an Alt-Right group looks like a gang, acts like a gang, and sounds like a gang then it should be considered an Alt-Right Gang.

Matthew Valasik, Ph.D., is a criminologist at the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University. Shannon Reid, Ph.D., is a criminologist at the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. They study street and prison gangs, and their research has recently focused on White Power and Alt-Right groups. They welcome comments from readers.

“The legal profession’s voice is critical to advancing public health efforts to confront the opioid epidemic, including efforts focused on prevention, intervention, and treatment,” the ABA said.

According to the report, lawyers can provide alternatives to criminal sentencing, mandate education and training, strengthen data tracking and reporting requirements, and aid and support collaboration across agencies focused on developing family-friendly policies and resources–to name a few.

The report and its recommendations will be used to collaborate with other ABA entities to develop specific policy resolutions that address the opioid crisis.

“The epidemic is shortening American life expectancy, impacting local government budgets, straining family resources and relationships, and challenging all of us to find solutions,” said Jack Young, chair of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division.

“It affects all of us.”

Notably, the Senior Lawyers Division plans to have a resolution approving the report’s recommendations and action items reviewed by the ABA House of Delegates as early as the ABA Midyear Meeting in January 2019.

The report made the following recommendations:

Invest in multidisciplinary education and training opportunities for individuals, families, vulnerable populations, professionals, and community stakeholders.

Expand access to treatment and recovery for individuals with opioid and substance misuse disorders and aggressively address stigmatism.

Establish comprehensive treatment and outreach efforts tailored to the diverse needs of individuals and families struggling with opioid and substance misuse disorders.

Increase the legal profession’s capacity to respond to and meet individual and family needs through partnerships, collaboration, and dissemination of information and resources in support of individual and family needs.

Promote policies and laws that support families and caregivers struggling with opioid and substance misuse disorders.

Support policies and laws that support families in crisis and strengthen the family unit.

Identify state laws and initiatives that have been shown to decrease opioid and substance misuse while ensuring access to pain medications for those with chronic pain.

Expand research and understanding of litigation and policy issues with the aim of addressing the sometimes indirect yet complex issues affected by the opioid crisis.

Recognize the inconsistent response and action to the opioid crisis versus other forms of substance misuse and advocate for policies that address underlying health and socioeconomic disparities.

This summary was prepared by Megan Hadley, senior reporter for The Crime Report. Readers’ comments welcome.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/legal-profession-critical-to-addressing-opioid-crisis-aba/feed/0Homelessness Called ‘Crisis’ for the Formerly Incarceratedhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/homelessness-called-crisis-for-the-formerly-incarcerated/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/homelessness-called-crisis-for-the-formerly-incarcerated/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 14:56:35 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343650People who have been to prison are 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public, according to a report released Tuesday by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI).

In the report, entitled Nowhere to Go, the PPI found that over two percent of formerly incarcerated people are homeless and that “nearly twice as many are living in precarious housing situations close to homelessness.”

The report, which the PPI said was the first national snapshot of homelessness among formerly incarcerated people, describes the problem of homelessness among formerly incarcerated as a “little-discussed housing and public safety crisis.”

According to the PPI study, written by Lucius Couloute, the increased likjelihood that an individual leaving prison will be homeless is an “irony considering that police departments regularly arrest and jail the homeless.”

Couloute said landlords and public housing authorities “have wide discretion to punish people with criminal records long after their sentences are over.”

His study said the problem was “fixable” through targeted public policy measures, including:

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/homelessness-called-crisis-for-the-formerly-incarcerated/feed/0California Ponders Raise the Age Billhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/california-ponders-raise-the-age-bill/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/california-ponders-raise-the-age-bill/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 14:54:30 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343611A violent riot broke out in the yard on Michael Mendoza’s very first day in a state prison — a stark wake-up call to his new reality.

At age 15, Mendoza had been tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison.

“I thought, ‘This is my life, this is what it’s going to be like,’” Mendoza said of that day some 20 years ago. “It’s going to be very violent. And I was going to have to become something I wasn’t to survive – a violent individual.”

For certain crimes in California, teens as young as 14 can be sentenced as adults, and sent to prison for life, like Mendoza was. California Senate Bill 1391, now moving through the state legislature, aims to stop that in light of new understandings of brain development.

“Cognitive science has proven that children and youth who commit crimes are very capable of change,” said State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D), the bill’s author. “Sending youth to an adult prison does not help our youth and does not make our communities any safer.”

The bill, which has been passed on the Senate floor, is due for an Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing on August 16. If passed, SB 1391 could become another piece of aggressive juvenile justice reform under the watch of outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown.

As the law now stands, teens aged 14 and up who are charged with certain serious offenses can be sent to adult court for adjudication at the behest of a judge via what’s called a transfer hearing. Young teens charged with murder and some sexual offenses are automatically transferred to adult court.

If SB 1391 becomes law, all 14- and 15-year olds charged with a crime would be handled in the juvenile justice system. Under no circumstances would anyone younger than age 16 be tried in adult court, even for murder charges.

“The youngest teens in our system need to be held accountable for their actions, but they’re also require age appropriate services and programs to rehabilitate and grow into mature, healthy adults,” Lara said.

Why Raise The Age?

Before 1994, youth under the age of 16 were always handled by the juvenile justice system in California. But amid the nationwide push to get “tough on crime,” the state lowered the age that youth could be tried as adults from 16 to 14.

Advocates point out the racialized nature of the “super-predator” era” of criminal justice reform that ushered in this law, and indeed, youth of color are disproportionately impacted. In the past 10 years, 50 percent of Latino and 60 percent of black juvenile offenders were sent to adult prison, compared to just 10 percent of white offenders, Lara said during the public safety hearing.

Data Source: California Department of Justice

In 2016, 32 14- and 15-year olds were tried in adult court, a sharp drop from the approximately 70 cases per year that has been the average for the past five, according to data provided by Sen. Lara’s office.

Supporters of SB 1391 argue that keeping 14- and 15-year-old offenders in the juvenile justice system will reduce recidivism rates and better rehabilitate and prepare youth for successful, productive reentry into society.

These benefits are credited, in part, to the availability — and mandatory nature — of services such as education and counseling. But the other side of the coin is that keeping youth in the juvenile system protects them from the behaviors and personalities in adult prison.

“These youth are very young, very moldable,” said Israel Villa, a policy coordinator with the nonprofit MILPA Collective (short for Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement).

“Do we want these kids in a level four prison with the most violent offenders where they can be molded, utilized, often abused? Or do we want them in a juvenile facility amongst their peers with access to all these things to rehabilitate them?”

Mendoza, who was convicted at age 15 for his involvement in a gang-related shooting, recognized that being younger made him a target for manipulation. He felt he had to go along with older men’s orders to survive inside.

But then, 16 years into his life sentence, new hope came when a new bill brought the possibility of release.

Senate Bill 260, or the Justice for Juveniles with Adult Prison Sentences Act, which took effect in 2014, requires the parole board to review the cases of people who were under 18 at the time of their crime — and to “take into consideration the diminished culpability of juveniles as compared to that of adults, the hallmark features of youth, and any subsequent growth and increased maturity of the individual.”

Mendoza was approved for parole during his 17th year of incarceration.

“SB 260 sent me a message of hope from the community saying we understand you were at a very young age when you committed the crime and we believe that young people such as yourselves have the opportunity to mature and to grow,” Mendoza said.

Since being released, Mendoza has earned a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University and is now a policy director for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. He believes that with SB 1391, youth offenders like himself can be rehabilitated without the hopeless years and added trauma he faced.

A Route to Rehabilitation or Coddling Criminals?

Opponents of the bill argue that the courts should have a right to determine the best system to adjudicate young offenders on a case-by-case basis.

“A lot of times, maybe adult prison is inappropriate, and the judges can make that call. But you’re essentially removing their ability to do that,”Jonathan Feldman, legislative advocate for the California Police Chiefs’ Association said at the public safety hearing.

Other opponents of the bill included the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs; the California District Attorneys Association; the California State Sheriffs’ Association; and the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

In the same hearing, Sen. Jeff Stone (R) described several especially awful crimes committed by teens who would be affected by this law, and asked Lara if he really thought such individuals could be truly rehabilitated.

“We have to remember that most juvenile offenders have been victims themselves.”

“We have to remember that most juvenile offenders have been victims themselves, and being able to understand the entire story is something we can do in the juvenile justice system,” Lara responded.

Moreover, data shows that up to 70 percent of incarcerated youth have a mental health disorder or learning disability, and many of them have a history of trauma and abuse.

“These youth deserve to get the help that they need,” Valerie Thompson, Santa Cruz County’s assistant chief of probation, said in support of the bill during a public safety hearing. “The division of juvenile justice provides evidence-based therapeutic services that support youth to success.”

Villa, who has spent time in both juvenile and adult detention facilities, said there’s a significant difference between the two systems. In the juvenile system, detained youth are required to keep up with their education and participate in other rehabilitative activities. Adult prisons, on the other hand, are so overcrowded that accessing any type of services to better oneself can be difficult.

Villa was on a waiting list for two years just to get into a GED class. “I gave up — it’s not uncommon,” he said.

Mendoza was incarcerated for nearly 10 years before he finally decided to focus on his education; he said starting classes marked the beginning of his rehabilitation. In addition to the lack of access to programs, adult prisons, he said, aren’t conducive to pursuing self-improvement. Inside, survival is the main focus.

“Nobody can really concentrate on getting education when they are stressed out about their living situation,” Mendoza said.

A Turning Tide

While once a pipe dream for advocates, this bill seems to fit within a wider shift in paradigm on rehabilitating young people who run afoul of the law.

In addition to the landmark SB 260, several laws and court decisions have added to the growing consensus that young people who commit crimes have a greater capacity for rehabilitation than adult offenders.

“[t]he reality that juveniles still struggle to define their identity means it is less supportable to conclude that even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile is evidence of irretrievably depraved character.”

In 2016, California voters passed Prop 57, which repealed a 2000 law that allowed prosecutors — rather than a judge — to determine which juvenile cases should be tried in adult court.

For Mendoza, regardless of how a teen’s case winds up in adult court, the consequences they can face there are still beyond their comprehension.

“For me at the age of 15, it was beyond my understanding. I didn’t really understand it until years later,” once he was already in prison and watching others serve life sentences, Mendoza said.

Villa stresses the reality that most youth being sentenced — whether as juveniles or as adults — will eventually return to their community. Where they serve their time will inevitably have an indelible effect on the people they become.

“If we lock up and throw away these kids at such a young age into the system, that doesn’t bring just to our community or even to the victims because they become trapped in a system of violence and doesn’t prepare them to come home,” Mendoza said.

The Crime Report is pleased to co-publish this story with The Chronicle of Social Change, a national news outlet that covers issues affecting vulnerable children, youth and their families. Sign up for their newsletter or follow The Chronicle of Social Change on Facebook or Twitter. Readers’ comments are welcome.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/california-ponders-raise-the-age-bill/feed/0Did D.C. Police Give Supremacists Too Much Help?https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/did-d-c-police-give-supremacists-too-much-help/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/did-d-c-police-give-supremacists-too-much-help/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 11:50:41 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343590As the Washington, D.C., region tallies the cost of a massive police effort to protect two dozen white supremacists who rallied on Sunday, some are questioning whether the extremist group received too many accommodations, the Washington Post reports. D.C. police and the mayor called the event a success — no injuries, one minor arrest — and said security measures were designed to separate white nationalists and counterprotesters with a history of violent clashes. Those same methods included what appeared to observers as amenities — police escorts and a semiprivate Metro rail car to spirit the rally’s organizer, ­Jason Kessler, in and out of Washington. “All these police here, and they’re protecting them?” said ­Bethan Neal, who joined thousands of counterprotesters held by police at a distance from Kessler and his group.

The region’s ability to ensure a peaceful event may turn out to be a double-edged sword. Kessler, who thanked law enforcement agencies for protecting his right to free speech, said it went so smoothly, he’d like to return. “Hopefully we’ll do more demonstrations in the D.C. area in the future,” he said. Police called the rally a unique event that should not set a precedent for other small groups with incendiary messages to expect the same level of police protection. A spokesman for D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said the violent history between Sunday’s groups set it apart. He said that getting Kessler’s group safely out of Lafayette Square, where the rally was staged, required an “alternative plan” because the anti-fascist group known as antifa and other groups had gathered outside the rally’s entrance points. “There was a sense that tensions were rising,” the chief said. The supremacists walked to the park, flanked by police. After the rally, they left amid an angry throng with the help of police.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/did-d-c-police-give-supremacists-too-much-help/feed/0With More Police on Streets, No Weekend Chicago Murdershttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/with-more-police-on-streets-no-weekend-chicago-murders/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/with-more-police-on-streets-no-weekend-chicago-murders/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 11:40:50 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343554Chicago’s five most violent police districts will get 600 additional weekend officers — and police will continue to break up large unsanctioned parties — “until we’re comfortable things are stabilized,” says Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The costly overtime that is difficult to sustain was hastily authorized to prevent a repeat of the bloodbath on the first weekend of August that left 71 people shot, 12 of them dead — and it worked. There were no homicides and only 33 shootings this past weekend.

Johnson was asked how long the additional attention and manpower would last at a time when the Fraternal Order of Police has warned of burnout by officers whose requests to take time off have been refused. “Until we’re comfortable that things are stabilized, we’ll continue to have ’em out” there, the superintendent said. Asked about the different crime totals on the first two August weekends, Johnson said, “We looked at large gatherings … and paid attention to ’em. But crime is cyclical. You never know when this stuff is gonna pop out.” Mayor Rahm Emanuel applauded Johnson for “getting on something immediately quick” and “making adjustments” in police tactics.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/with-more-police-on-streets-no-weekend-chicago-murders/feed/0Chicago Violence Toll Tied to Poor Neighborhoodshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/chicago-violence-toll-tied-to-poor-neighborhoods/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/chicago-violence-toll-tied-to-poor-neighborhoods/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 11:39:59 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343629In an analysis of Chicago crime data, Axios reports that while the city’s homicide rate is not the highest in the U.S., Chicago has consistently had more total killings than any other U.S. city, with 27 people killed since the beginning of the month. Racial segregation, wealth inequality, gangs and the inability of law enforcement to solve crimes have fueled the gun violence epidemic, and a handful of minority, impoverished neighborhoods have had the brunt of the impact. Gun-related homicides this year have dropped since the spikes in 2016 and 2017. This year still has the third highest number of homicides of the past 15 years.

Chicago is flourishing economically, with a record-low unemployment rate of 3.8 percent and a third of its city workers making at least $100,000. The wealth is not equally distributed over the starkly segregated neighborhoods, and neither is the violence. Lack of resources and opportunities often lead young people in poor communities to turn to violence, community leaders and gun regulation advocates say. A dozen poor, minority neighborhoods account for 50 percent of Chicago’s shootings, says a study by Northwestern University. There were 215 shootings in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago in the first seven months of the year, almost 12 percent of the city’s total. Adam Alonso of BUILD Chicago said children in neighborhoods like Austin walk out of the house with the belief “they might not make it back home.” The median income in the majority-African-American neighborhood is $20,000 less than the median income for Chicago, and almost a third of the neighborhood’s residents live below the poverty line. The gun violence problem will be solved once the economic and racial equality problems are solved, said Colleen Daley of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/chicago-violence-toll-tied-to-poor-neighborhoods/feed/0Manslaughter Charge in FL Stand Your Ground Casehttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/manslaughter-charge-in-fl-stand-your-ground-case/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/manslaughter-charge-in-fl-stand-your-ground-case/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 11:37:17 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343191Prosecutors charged Michael Drejka, the man accused of killing Markeis McGlockton in a shooting that has reignited a debate over Florida’s stand your ground law, with manslaughter, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe said his office “filed the charge we think we can prove.” Drejka, who turned 48 since the shooting, had avoided arrest since he shot McGlockton, 28, on July 19 because of the controversial self-defense law that eliminated one’s duty to retreat before resorting to force. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his agency was precluded from arresting Drejka because the case was “within the bookends of stand your ground and within the bookends of force being justified.”

The encounter started when Drejka, of Clearwater, Fl., confronted McGlockton’s girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, about why she had parked at a food store in a handicap-reserved parking space without a decal. McGlockton emerged from the store and pushed Drejka to the ground. Drejka then pulled out a gun and shots McGlockton. He told deputies he was in fear of further attack. The warrant for Drejka’s arrest said McGlockton had immediately backed up when he was confronted with the firearm. State legislators revised the law last year to put the onus on prosecutors to disprove a stand your ground claim instead of on defense attorneys to prove one. Drejka has been the accused aggressor in four incidents since 2012. He was not arrested in any of the cases and does not have a criminal history in Florida. two of the previous cases were road rage incidents documented by law enforcement in which he was accused of showing a gun. A third was an argument a few months ago over the same parking space in which Drejka confronted another man and threatened to shoot him.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/manslaughter-charge-in-fl-stand-your-ground-case/feed/0Arrests of Immigrants With No Record Tripled Under Trumphttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/arrests-of-immigrants-with-no-record-tripled-under-trump/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/arrests-of-immigrants-with-no-record-tripled-under-trump/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 10:15:36 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343220Federal arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record have more than tripled under President Trump and may still be accelerating, finds an NBC News analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data from his first 14 months in office. Responsible for the surge is a new ICE tactic of arresting without warrants people who are driving or walking down the street and by using large-scale “sweeps” of likely immigrants, charges a class-action lawsuit filed in June by immigration rights advocates in Chicago. ICE “administrative” arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions have spiked 203 percent in the first 14 months of Trump’s presidency compared with the final 14 months of the Obama administration, growing from 19,128 to 58,010. During the same time period, arrests of undocumented immigrants with criminal records grew just 18 percent.

An administrative arrest is an arrest for civil violation of immigration law. A criminal conviction can mean any misdemeanor or felony from jaywalking to murder, including previous immigration offenses. Mark Fleming of at the Immigrant Justice Center, which filed the lawsuit, believes many of the kinds of arrests that ICE is making under President Trump are new. “What’s really different about this enforcement action is that they are literally doing roving stops, whether by car or on foot, stopping people without any sort of articulable facts,” Fleming said. “It sends a message to the Hispanic community that we intend to racially profile you in your communities.” ICE official Matthew Albence told to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that in the current fiscal year, nearly 90 percent of people arrested by ICE came to ICE’s attention after an arrest for a local, state or federal criminal violation. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics are ensnaring non-criminal immigrants who are detained and questioned without warrants and without probable cause.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/arrests-of-immigrants-with-no-record-tripled-under-trump/feed/0How Police Disciplinary Records Can Affect Crime Caseshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/how-police-disciplinary-records-can-affect-crime-cases/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/how-police-disciplinary-records-can-affect-crime-cases/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 08:07:09 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343562Pittsburg, Ca., police officer Michael Sibbitt was about to testify in a murder trial when a lieutenant from his department told the court that the officer had resigned more than a year earlier during an investigation into whether he had falsified reports and used excessive force. The 2015 revelation had a sweeping effect, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nineteen convictions secured with help from two officers were dismissed after prosecutors learned of the misconduct investigation. The incident rocked the criminal justice system in the San Francisco suburb and showed how information from officers’ confidential disciplinary files can change the outcome of cases if courts are made aware of the material.

The case was unusual because the lieutenant took it upon himself to reveal the officer’s background. Most of the time, getting this information into court is a convoluted process that often leaves judges, attorneys and jurors in the dark about misconduct by officers who take the stand in criminal proceedings. “It’s one of the more stark examples of why we need to have more transparency about police officers’ backgrounds,” says Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola Law School. Internal records of police misconduct are confidential in California, but state law allows judges to order police agencies to bring personnel files to court if an officer’s credibility is formally challenged. In 21 states, records of significant police discipline are public. In many others, prosecutors and defendants are able to access them, eliminating the need for a judge’s private review. California is the only state in which even prosecutors cannot directly access the personnel file of a police witness. State lawmakers are weighing a proposal this month that would allow the public to see some law enforcement misconduct records.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/how-police-disciplinary-records-can-affect-crime-cases/feed/0Justice Activists Assail NY Parole Boardhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/justice-activists-assail-ny-parole-board-staffing-competence/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/justice-activists-assail-ny-parole-board-staffing-competence/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 07:08:37 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343527The New York State Board of Parole is woefully understaffed, and two members who have deep political and police ties routinely reject prisoners without giving them a chance, charges a scathing report by criminal justice activists, the New York Daily News reports. Commissioner Walter Smith, a politically connected board member since 1996, consistently denies parole to prisoners convicted of violent crimes and is prone to losing his temper and mocking inmates seeking to convince him they’ve turned their lives around, say the organizations Release Aging People in Prison and the Parole Preparation Project. Commissioner Marc Coppola attends hearings unprepared, often mixes up case files and fails to consider required aspects of a prisoner’s life behind bars, the report says. “The governor can and should dismiss these commissioners immediately and replace them with qualified candidates who better reflect the identities and experiences of people in prison,” the groups maintain.

Prisoner advocates and police unions are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to overhaul the board. Critics want the state to add staff as well as depoliticize how members are selected. The board is staffed with only 12 of 19 commissioners, who must handle an average of 12,000 cases each year. The board has not been fully staffed since Cuomo took office, said Dave George of the aging-inmate activist group. The state budget allocated money for 16 parole commissioners this fiscal year. A lack of staff has made it impossible for the board to review cases thoroughly, prisoner advocates say. In May, the board interviewed 70 prisoners in Fishkill Correctional Facility in one week. “Such severe understaffing has led to myriad procedural problems, overworked commissioners, higher caseloads, shorter parole interviews, and less time for individualized evaluations of parole applicant files,” the report says. Patrick Bailey, a parole board spokesman, said the report contains “false accusations.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/justice-activists-assail-ny-parole-board-staffing-competence/feed/0Some Progress Cited in ‘Disorganized’ Ferguson Courthttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/some-progress-cited-in-disorganized-ferguson-court/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/some-progress-cited-in-disorganized-ferguson-court/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 05:51:14 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343610More than a year after finding significant problems with the Ferguson, Mo., Municipal Court, a new report shows the city has made some progress in fixing a system that was in disarray, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Last year, state Auditor Nicole Galloway issued a stinging report that said boxes of court records had become moldy after a water leak. She found pervasive disorganization, a reluctance by local officials to cooperate with her staff and $26,000 in illegal fees, earning the court the state’s worst ranking. The audit also cited a lack of oversight that resulted in at least $1,400 in missing funds.

“My last audit discovered careless and disorganized records management that led to serious questions as to the ability of the court to effectively serve citizens,” Galloway said. “While there is still work that needs to be done, efforts are underway to address the audit findings and implement better processes moving forward.” While Ferguson has not pursued criminal prosecution or restitution for the missing money, officials have worked to implement new procedures to better prevent and detect loss or theft in the future, Galloway said. The city has been under intense scrutiny in the four years since an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer. Galloway said the problems in Ferguson weren’t very different from most of the 20 other courts she has audited since taking office, saying municipal courts statewide appear plagued with illegal procedures, poor transparency and weak records management.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/some-progress-cited-in-disorganized-ferguson-court/feed/0Prison Reformer Larry Meachum Dies at 79https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/prison-reformer-larry-meachum-dies-at-79/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/prison-reformer-larry-meachum-dies-at-79/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 04:40:16 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=343521Larry Meachum, a prison reformer who as a habitual runaway during his youth might well have wound up in jails instead of running them, died last month in Florida, the New York Times reports. He was 79. Meachum oversaw the prison systems in Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Connecticut and directed federal corrections programs in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs in the 1990s. At the time, the criminal justice system was struggling to cope with record crime rates, mandatory sentences and so-called broken windows neighborhood policing, all of which led to a rising number of arrests and mass incarceration.

While he was later criticized for coddling inmates, Meachum started one of the first prison boot camps — a version of shock therapy that he later disavowed — and his name was on a prisoners’ rights lawsuit, Meachum v. Fano, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled 6-3 in 1976 that Meachum had not violated an inmate’s right to due process when, as a Massachusetts warden, he transferred the man to a more inhospitable prison without a hearing. During his career, he worked to improve drug treatment and other medical services for inmates, curb gang violence, reduce recidivism by offering education and occupational training, provide facilities for recreation to reduce idle time, and start supervised release programs. Mike Lawlor, Connecticut Under Secretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning, described Meachum as a man who surrounded himself with “people who understood the concept of redemption and who appreciated the basic humanity of prisoners.” At DOJ, Meachum developed and oversaw drug abuse testing and treatment and post-prison programs for inmates. He retired in 2003.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/14/prison-reformer-larry-meachum-dies-at-79/feed/0Trapped: How Fee-Based GPS Monitoring Puts a ‘Price Tag on Freedom’https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/trapped-how-fee-based-gps-monitoring-devices-put-a-price-tag-on-freedom/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/trapped-how-fee-based-gps-monitoring-devices-put-a-price-tag-on-freedom/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 15:15:59 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=341277William Edwards was giving a lift to a friend in Oakland, Ca., in November 2016 when he was stopped by police. After searching his car without a warrant, the officers found drugs in the friend’s bag.

Edwards was arrested, charged with possession for sale of drugs, and held on a bond he could not afford, although he didn’t know anything about the drugs. A cancer survivor, he requires daily treatment that he could not get in jail. Eventually, his health deteriorated to the point that the court agreed to release him if he wore a GPS tracking device.

He was remanded to the custody of Leaders in Community Alternatives (LCA), an Oakland-based for-profit company with a privatized supervision contract with Alameda County.

Once assigned to LCA, Edwards found himself in a financial trap.

LCA charged him $25.50 per day for the GPS tracking “services.” It demanded $532.50 just to enroll in the program and pay for the first two weeks. With an income barely over the poverty line for the Bay Area, Williams couldn’t afford to pay the fee. Although California law provides that people on monitors cannot be charged more than they can pay, LCA threatened to return him to jail if he did not pay their exorbitant fees.

This month, Equal Justice Under Law, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that fights to end the criminalization of poverty (I am Executive Director), filed a federal class action lawsuit against LCA, alleging that its business model amounts to racketeering based on testimony that LCA threatens to jail people if they do not pay LCA’s fees.

While GPS tracking — sometimes called “e-carceration” — is controversial, its problems are multiplied when the process is privatized instead of being run as part of a county’s public supervision agencies. Thousands of California residents have borne the brunt of LCA’s business model that generates profits by demanding $25.50 per day from individuals ordered to wear GPS tracking devices.

In July 2013, authorities in Alameda County, which includes the city of Oakland, contracted with LCA to take charge of the county’s electronic monitoring system for individuals released from custody and awaiting trial. LCA, a subsidiary of SuperCom, made Alameda an offer it couldn’t refuse: It would run the entire system of GPS tracking of individuals, and it wouldn’t charge the county a dime.

Instead, LCA would earn revenue by charging individuals a daily fee for wearing the electronic bracelets.

Not only did Alameda County put a price tag on freedom, but it also turned a blind eye when LCA set that amount at an unaffordable number. In doing so, it violated California law, constitutional principles, and common sense.

In a case from 1983 called Bearden v. Georgia, the Supreme Court proclaimed that a defendant could not be jailed for failing to pay restitution if he didn’t have the money. In other words, no one can be punished simply for being poor. That is why California law requires that people on ankle monitors only be charged what they can afford.

But LCA puts no meaningful effort into assessing whether its “clients” can afford hundreds of dollars per month. The majority cannot afford the onerous fees LCA requires. And many of those individuals have not been convicted of any crime at all: they are pending trial while ordered to endure to 24-hour per day surveillance by LCA.

According to many subjected to LCA’s practices, the company threatens jail for those who cannot pay.

If someone threatened to lock you up if you didn’t pay them $25 every day, you’d call that extortion, and you’d probably call the police. Many who have been subjected to LCA’s practices complain that LCA is committing exactly this kind of extortion: demanding payment on threat of jail. It will be up to a jury to decide if LCA should be liable for racketeering and whether Alameda County should be liable for not protecting basic constitutional rights.

Edwards is a client of Equal Justice Under Law. But he’s not alone. Stories like his abound across the country.

According to a Pew study, the number of active monitoring devices increased 140 percent from 2005 to 2015, largely due to the rapid advancement of GPS technology, an advance that has coincided with the expansion of privatization. LCA is a relatively small player in the electronic monitoring industry.

Well-known names in the prison industrial complex such as Geo Group and Sentinel Offender Services engage in this practice for profit.

We all should ask ourselves whether we want a criminal justice system that allows private companies to profit from people within it — many of whom are indigent and all of whom are already struggling with the consequences of being accused or convicted of a crime.

Alameda County’s adoption of a “user-funded model” allows a private company to enrich its shareholders by placing a coercive burden upon indigent individuals. Privatization of our criminal justice system benefits no one except the companies exploiting people for profit.

We deserve a justice system that puts justice before profits, and too many counties like Alameda are privatizing justice at the expense of all of us.

Phil Telfeyan is an attorney and the Executive Director of Equal Justice Under Law, a non-profit civil rights organization leading the litigation in Edwards v. LCA, a class action lawsuit pending in federal court. William Edwards is one of Equal Justice Under Law’s clients and the lead plaintiff in the case against LCA. He welcomes comments from readers.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/trapped-how-fee-based-gps-monitoring-devices-put-a-price-tag-on-freedom/feed/0A ‘Holistic’ Approach to Wrongful Convictionshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/a-holistic-approach-to-wrongful-convictions/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/a-holistic-approach-to-wrongful-convictions/#commentsMon, 13 Aug 2018 15:10:24 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342834To set wrongful convictions right, appeals courts need to change the way they review evidence, according to Stephanie Roberts Hartung, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law.

“Frequently, it is not a single misstep that causes a wrongful conviction, but rather a ‘confluence of factors,’” she wrote.

But historically, state and federal court’s piecemeal approach to addressing trial-level errors fails to account for the complex ways that seemingly independent errors interact with one another.

Published in the Suffolk University Law Review, Hartung’s article points to the post-conviction jurisprudence developed by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in a number of cases, most recently Commonwealth v. Rosario in 2017, as an example of the approach she advocates. In each case, the court recognized that an approach which considered evidence in isolation would have failed to identify the wrongful conviction at hand.

Recent data suggests that the criminal appeals process is largely failing to protect against wrongful convictions. Prof. Brandon Garrett of Duke Law School finds that only 14 percent of factually innocent defendants who were ultimately exonerated by DNA evidence initially won a reversal on appeal—meaning that 86 percent of the time, courts do not recognize valid claims of innocence.

This is in part because the appellate process focuses more on fixing procedural mistakes than re-adjudicating questions of guilt.

The harmless-error doctrine poses another obstacle to the wrongfully convicted. Courts apply the philosophy that not every error is worth the trouble of addressing with little rhyme or reason, often ignoring the ways that errors can build upon each other.

As an example, Hartung writes, “a suggestive eyewitness identification procedure can lead to a misidentification, which in turn can cause a flawed forensic analysis of related physical evidence that may be tainted by the examiner’s knowledge of the previous identification.”

But viewing each of these errors in isolation masks the way that one leads to another, “making the evidence in support of guilt appear stronger than it is.”

Jurors often rely heavily upon evidence against a defendant while downplaying evidence of innocence.

Cognitive biases also play a role in keeping the innocent behind bars. Criminal justice actors tend not to question the validity of forensic evidence, and jurors often rely heavily upon evidence against a defendant while downplaying evidence of innocence.

Holistic review reveals the way that one piece of faulty evidence can infect other evidence. In the Rosario case, erroneous but seemingly scientific forensic evidence tainted what appeared to be independent corroborative evidence, and combined with a tendency to overlook exculpatory evidence to put an innocent man in prison. It was only when the evidence was reexamined all together that Rosario was ultimately exonerated.

As the number of exonerations grows, it becomes clear that wrongful convictions are not as rare as was once believed. The National Registry of Exonerations has counted 2,257 exonerations since 1989, and that number rises each year.

These cases demonstrate the need not just for prospective reforms that aim to prevent wrongful conviction, but retrospective reforms that seek to identify false convictions that have already taken place, wrote Hartung.

“A wrongful conviction of an innocent person is a profound failure of justice and typically does not occur as a result of a single, isolated error,” she wrote. “Now is the time for courts to adapt their approach to post-conviction review of innocence claims.”

Elena Schwartz is a TCR news intern. Readers’ comments welcome.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/a-holistic-approach-to-wrongful-convictions/feed/1‘Unite the Right’ Rally in D.C Dubbed ‘Pathetic Failure’https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/unite-the-right-rally-in-d-c-dubbed-pathetic-failure/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/unite-the-right-rally-in-d-c-dubbed-pathetic-failure/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 15:00:30 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342944After last year’s disaster in Charlottesville, very few white nationalists showed up to the follow-up rally in Washington, DC– which turned out to be “a total dud,” reports Vox.

Police and counterprotesters significantly outnumbered a small group of “Unite the Right” participants, with about 30 rallygoers, representing a loose coalition of groups including white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

They arrived in Vienna, Va., and took a public transit train into the city, where they headed to Lafayette Square across the street from the White House.

A sea of counter-protesters met the group during the hourlong gathering. Dozens of police officers were in the area, some on horseback. The far-right group had a permit to protest in the park until 7:30 p.m. but left shortly after 5 p.m., as it began to rain.

Some protesters threw eggs at police officers. Chants of “Go home Nazis” echoed through the park.

According to Vox news reporter German Lopez, there were plenty of reasons for the pathetic turnout from white nationalists, but the main reason is the disaster in Charlottesville.

“Charlottesville was a complete disaster,” he contended. “A moment that was supposed to somehow win white nationalists favor actively turned much of the nation against them when they engaged in violence and, in one case, literal murder.”

Lopez listed several more reasons for the low turnout, such as rallygoers fear of repercussions similar to that of Charlottesville.

“Several Charlottesville attendees had their identities revealed — which resulted not just in public shaming but in some attendees getting fired from their jobs,” said Lopez.

However, Jason Kessler, who organized the Unite the Right event, said he did not care about the low turnout.

“We had to prove the point we could do this rally and people would be safe” he concluded.

This summary was prepared by TCR staff reporter Megan Hadley.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/unite-the-right-rally-in-d-c-dubbed-pathetic-failure/feed/0Drug Firm Still Trying to Block Nebraska Executionhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/drug-firm-still-trying-to-block-nebraska-execution/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/drug-firm-still-trying-to-block-nebraska-execution/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 11:45:45 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=341924A federal judge in Nebraska refused to block Tuesday’s execution of Carey Dean Moore, rejecting the Fresenius Kabi pharmaceutical company’s claims that using its drugs in a lethal injection will harm its business interests, reports the Omaha World-Herald. The firm will appeal to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf sided with attorneys for the state, who insisted that prison officials legally obtained the drugs from a licensed pharmacy and are almost out of time to carry out the execution before one of the drugs expires. The judge said he did not want to “frustrate the wishes of Carey Dean Moore,” who has said he wants to die after 38 years on death row. Kopf discussed at length how 61 percent of Nebraska voters reinstated the death penalty in 2016, after it had been repealed by legislators.

“Decades have slipped by since Mr. Moore was sentenced to death,” Kopf said. “The people of Nebraska have spoken. Any delay now is tantamount to nullifying Nebraska law.” Unless the decision is quickly overturned on appeal, Moore will become the first inmate put to death by lethal injection in Nebraska. He is scheduled to be executed for the slayings of Omaha cabdrivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland five days apart in 1979. Nebraska’s last execution took place in 1997, when the state used the electric chair. Lethal injection was adopted in 2009. Moore, 60, did not join the drug company’s lawsuit. There have been seven previous stays of Moore’s execution. The Germany-based pharmaceutical company contended that it would suffer losses in sales and business reputation if its products were used to kill an inmate. The company alleged that prison officials either improperly or illegally obtained a drug that should have never been sold for an execution.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/drug-firm-still-trying-to-block-nebraska-execution/feed/0Seattle Airplane Theft Prompts Terror-Security Worrieshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/seattle-airplane-theft-prompts-terror-security-worries/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/seattle-airplane-theft-prompts-terror-security-worries/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 11:19:04 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342258The theft of a Horizon Air passenger plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport exposed aviation vulnerabilities that persist even after efforts to enhance security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Experts say the incident, in which an airline employee took off Friday with the plane and then crashed on a sparsely populated island, will prompt a rethink of how to secure aircraft at airports. The employee, Richard Russell, had worked at Horizon Air for 3½ years as a ground-service agent and didn’t have a pilot’s license. Airliners generally don’t have locks on their doors or require keys to start. While there are procedures to secure aircraft, the U.S. aviation industry focuses on securing airfields and then authorizes employees with proper credentials to work there. Jeff Price, a consultant on aviation security, said, “We need to get out of the traditional aviation-security mind-set, where we think that more screening and more surveillance and more cops will solve this problem.”

Most airlines have rules about how planes should be stored overnight, but they can vary from carrier to carrier. The doors are supposed to be secured. To fly a plane, someone would have to know and follow a complicated sequence of tasks that include fueling, starting engines and programming the flight computer. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, airlines, federal security officials and law-enforcement agencies have focused attention and spent tens of billions of dollars plugging gaping holes in aviation security. Airport security experts say co-workers are an important line of defense. Aviation security officials have increasingly become worried about insider threats. Regulators and carriers cooperate on voluntary reporting programs designed to prompt employees who are having mental or substance-abuse problems to seek help. Other workers are encouraged to let management know about difficulties confronting fellow employees.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/seattle-airplane-theft-prompts-terror-security-worries/feed/0Democrats Close to Conceding on Kavanaughhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/democrats-close-to-conceding-on-kavanaugh/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/democrats-close-to-conceding-on-kavanaugh/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 11:06:47 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=341895Democrats have all but acknowledged that they are unable to stop the Senate from confirming Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, reports the Washington Post. Moderate Republican senators such as Susan Collins of Maine are sending strong signals that they will back Kavanaugh. Several Democrats facing difficult reelections have indicated they are open to voting for the judge. Leaders of the resistance already are delivering post-mortem assessments and blaming fellow Democrats for a looming failure. Barring a major revelation, the Senate is poised to install the 53-year-old Kavanaugh on the high court and take the next step toward fulfilling President Trump’s pledge to remake the federal judiciary, potentially for decades.

“There were too many Democrats who decided out of the gate that this was an unwinnable fight,” said Brian Fallon of Demand Justice, a leading anti-Kavanaugh group that will continue to battle the nomination. The fizzling campaign to block Kavanaugh underscores the relative weakness of the Democrats, who had promised their political base a pitched battle to protect the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling and other liberal causes. Democratic leaders have sought to portray the would-be justice as a far-right ideologue and targeted a handful of senators seen as persuadable. Confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh will begin Sept. 4. Forty-nine of the 51 Republican senators have expressed full support or likely backing, shifting the focus to Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and three centrist Democrats, Joe Manchin III (WVA), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Joe Donnelly (IN). Maine’s Collins decried the “overblown” rhetoric from the sharpest Kavanaugh critics. She has been a reliable Republican vote, backing Kavanaugh in 2006 when President George W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Collins has never voted against a Supreme Court pick.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/democrats-close-to-conceding-on-kavanaugh/feed/0FBI Agent Strzok Fired Over Anti-Trump Textshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/fbi-agent-strzok-fired-over-anti-trump-texts/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/fbi-agent-strzok-fired-over-anti-trump-texts/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 11:05:42 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342952The FBI fired agent Peter Strzok, who helped lead the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election until officials discovered he had been sending anti-Trump texts, the Washington Post reports. Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s lawyer, said FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich ordered the firing on Friday even though the FBI office that normally handles employee discipline had decided Strzok should face only a demotion and 60-day suspension. Goelman said the move undercuts the FBI’s assurances that Strzok would be handled in the normal disciplinary process.

The termination marks a remarkable downfall for Strzok, a 22-year FBI veteran who investigated Russian spies, defense officials accused of selling secrets to China and other important cases. Strzok was integral to two of the bureau’s most high-profile investigations: the Russia case, and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state. When the Justice Department inspector general uncovered politically charged messages that Strzok had exchanged with another FBI official, he was relegated to a position in human resources. Conservatives made Strzok the face of their attacks against the special counsel investigation into the president’s campaign. Strzok’s job had been precarious since last summer, when Inspector General Michael Horowitz told Special Counsel Robert Mueller that the lead agent on his team had been exchanging anti-Trump messages with an FBI lawyer. The next day, Mueller expelled Strzok from the group.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/fbi-agent-strzok-fired-over-anti-trump-texts/feed/0CA Doctors Told of Opioid Patients’ Deathshttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/ca-doctors-told-of-opioid-patients-deaths/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/ca-doctors-told-of-opioid-patients-deaths/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 10:59:08 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342877The form letters from the San Diego County Medical Examiner were supportive but grim. “This is a courtesy communication to inform you that your patient (name) died on (date). Prescription drug overdose was either the primary cause of death or contributed to the death,” said the letters, sent to hundreds of doctors who had prescribed opioids to patients who later died. “… We hope that you will take this as an opportunity to join us in preventing future deaths from drug overdose.” The notices were a simple but unusual experiment, part of a growing research effort aimed at finding solutions to the opioid epidemic that is estimated to have killed almost 50,000 people from overdoses last year, reports the Washington Post.

The letters addressed an almost astonishing gap in the health-care system — the gulf between the care doctors provide and their knowledge about consequences for patients. Many doctors who prescribe painkillers may believe that addiction is a problem that happens to other doctors’ patients because they never learn about their own patients who died of an overdose. San Diego doctors who were told of their patients’ deaths were 7 percent less likely to start new patients on opioids and issued fewer high-dose prescriptions over the next three months, compared with those who did not receive a letter. In total, there was a 9.7 percent reduction in the total amount of opioids they prescribed, according to results published in the journal Science. Researchers at the University of Southern California worked with San Diego County’s chief deputy medical examiner on the project, is part of an emerging thread of changes that could affect physicians’ behavior, after years of top-down efforts to restrict or set guidelines on how opioids should be used or to track prescriptions.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/ca-doctors-told-of-opioid-patients-deaths/feed/0Parkland Students Finish Summer Political Tourhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/parkland-students-finish-summer-political-tour/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/parkland-students-finish-summer-political-tour/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 10:29:03 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342914Six months after the school shooting in Parkland, Fa., some surviving students are becoming more organized and more ambitious — what Axios calls “ringleaders of a vocal, demanding, tech-savvy strata of their generation. Axios traveled with a group of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alumni who finished a summer-long bus tour on Sunday in Newtown, Ct., home of Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Parkland activists are aware that many baby boomers and millennial adults are throwing up their hands over gun laws and placing their hope for change in high school students. An anti-establishment strain runs through it, a trend that could be decisive in both local and national races in midterm elections.

When 17 of their classmates and teachers were killed on Feb. 14, the Parkland students shouted: “Never again.” A dozen more school killings occurred later. On Wednesday, classes resume at Stoneman Douglas and at other U.S. schools in the subsequent days and weeks. “It’s going to take a cultural shift” before U.S. gun laws change significantly, Jaclyn Corin, president of the incoming senior class at Stoneman Douglas, said in Newtown. “And a cultural shift always takes a generation or two.” Parkland classmates ran a 59-day summer bus campaign. They hit 80 cities and towns in two dozen states, working to register young new voters who might help defeat political leaders supported by the National Rifle Association. This fall, the students plan a get-out-the-vote drive that will leverage their vaunted influence on social media, especially Twitter. At event after event there appeared to be far more adults than their 18-and-older intended audience. Registration of voters 18-29 this year has barely budged from the pre-Parkland average, the Washington Post found. The young organizers are pursuing a strategy of not changing votes, but turning non-voters into voters.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/parkland-students-finish-summer-political-tour/feed/0Few MN Rape Prosecutions in Cases Involving Alcoholhttps://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/few-mn-rape-prosecutions-in-cases-involving-alcohol/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/few-mn-rape-prosecutions-in-cases-involving-alcohol/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 10:24:27 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342312It’s a stark reality faced by many Minnesota women who report being raped: Their already slight chance of getting justice plummets if they were drinking, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune in the third of a series. Police are less likely to interview witnesses, assign cases to a detective or forward them to a prosecutor for possible criminal charges, found the newspaper’s analysis of more than 1,000 sexual assault cases from 2015 and 2016. When cases involving alcohol do reach prosecutors, suspects are much less likely to be charged with a crime or convicted. When a victim is sober, prosecutors charge about 15 percent of the sex assaults. When a victim is intoxicated, that rate drops to 8 percent.

In cases where the victim was drinking, only one in 20 sex assaults resulted in a conviction — about half the overall conviction rate for sex assaults. “That’s just unacceptable,” said Rep. Marion O’Neill, a member of the Minnesota House Public Safety Committee, who added that rapists may be “getting a free pass, and I want to know why.” Minnesota’s laws on drinking and consent may be partly to blame, prosecutors say. Suspects can claim the sex was consensual unless the victim was “physically helpless” and the perpetrator knew it. A bigger reason may be attitudes and beliefs among law enforcement and society that make it easier to doubt the credibility of victims. “I have not ever met a cop who said, ‘I don’t care about sexual assault or sexual violence,’” said Inver Grove Heights Police Chief Paul Schnell. “The problem becomes all the filters that get applied to that.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/few-mn-rape-prosecutions-in-cases-involving-alcohol/feed/0Wife Tells of TX Church Shooter’s ‘Descent into Madness’https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/wife-tells-of-tx-church-shooters-descent-into-madness/
https://thecrimereport.org/2018/08/13/wife-tells-of-tx-church-shooters-descent-into-madness/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 09:52:30 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=342299Sutherland Springs, Tx., church shooter Devin Kelley’s descent into madness accelerated in the six months before the massacre last November, his wife, Danielle, tells the San Antonio Express-News. He grew more depressed. His short temper got shorter. Every disagreement, every annoyance, became a fight. “He was slowly becoming not the person that he was,” Danielle said. “He was shutting down.” In 2016, he bought an assault-style rifle from an Academy Sports and Outdoors store in San Antonio. He accumulated more than a dozen magazines, each with a capacity of 30 bullets. The Air Force had failed to report Devin’s domestic violence conviction to federal law enforcement, which could have prevented him from buying the gun. He was abusing anxiety medication, Danielle said. He never wanted to leave the apartment. They became reclusive. They had no friends.

“Sometimes people can get out of that depression, and other times it takes the best of them. And it took the best of him,” Danielle said. Those who survived the shooting in which 26 people died are still grappling with the aftermath. David Colbath is in physical therapy for his eight bullet wounds. Kris Workman will likely never walk again. Some congregants shake uncontrollably at loud sounds. Others can’t bear to enter the old church sanctuary, now a memorial for the dead. A security team of congregants is equipped with guns and earpieces during services at a new, temporary church. The town’s museum opened a memorial gallery this month with donated items and belongings of people who were killed.